Prelude to Hogwarts
by Spirit-of-Deathmist
Summary: Little story that gives some background to my other one Hogwarts, Harry Hermione, not slash just a kicked out of home, made to work, adventure, rated for safety. Disclaimer: Not my characters, so plz dnt sue.


**Prelude to Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts.**

**Chapter 1**

"Boy! You will earn your stay here over the summer. I got you a few jobs so you should feel grateful to us. You earn enough over the summer so you can stay in a hostel next summer. Get it? Good." Bellowed Vernon, spittle flying everywhere as he shoved a small piece of paper in a raven-haired teen's hands.

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Replied the young man blandly.

Harry looked at the paper that was shoved into his hands and almost groaned out loud. The paper read:

9.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m. Sainsbury's (Oxford Street, Soho)

3.30 p.m. – 7.30 p.m. Vue Cinema (Regent Street, Mayfair)

8.00 p.m. – 4.00 a.m. The Flying Dutchman Club (Oxford Street, Soho)

What! This only leaves 5 hours to get home and sleep and get back to work. How on earth am I supposed to survive? Oh well I suppose that I don't really get more than a few hours sleep anyway. At least if I work myself out then I might sleep better. I'd probably better use some of my school account to buy an apartment in London, and ward it like hell. At least then I might get some more sleep.

"Boy. BOY! Are you listening to me? You have to go now. Your shift at Regent Street starts in 5 hours. Just enough time to get there. Have fun!" Simpered Harry's Uncle, looking like a cat that just got into the cream.

"Yes Uncle Vernon. Bye." Harry said, leaving the house with his rucksack, trunk shrunken inside. The bag only contained enough to last him for the holidays, but now it looked like he would have to go shopping to get better clothes so that he didn't get fired because of scruffiness. Harry was lucky that he'd set up an account at the local bank so that if he ever needed to turn muggle, he would have enough money to. He'd transferred about 2,000 pounds into the account, enough to rent an apartment on the outskirts of London and buy enough clothes to last. He would also need to buy a return tube ticket to 'Oxford Circus' station.

As Harry reached the Surrey station, he found he was in luck. A train was about to go to London that would leave him enough time to get the necessities done there. At least he had some luck.

It was half an hour later that he was getting off the station intending to find the places he would work at and then get a change of clothes. The remaining time would allow him to buy a few other things as well. He would need a mobile phone and also to change his appearance a bit. He didn't want the offhand chance that a Deatheater would recognize him, or worse someone from the press. That would be disastrous, not only would Voldemort find him, the entire Wizarding world would know that he had to work during the summer because he wasn't wanted at home.

The Harry that walked into the Cinema four hours later was so different that you wouldn't know it was the same person. He dyed the tips of his hair alternate deep, blood red and Slytherin green and silver. He was proud of the fact that he had gotten it cut in a style that hid his scar indefinitely. He was wearing a tight wifebeater and jeans that accentuated his toned figure, the muscles formed from the hours working over passed summers and playing Quidditch. To put it simply, he looked stunning. Gone were the huge glasses and in place of those were keleiderscope contacts that drew attention and covered up the tell tale green. It was a transformed man that walked up to the main desk and asked where he should work.

Lizzie had just started working the afternoon shift, giving people the tickets to the films they wanted to see. She had been told that morning that a new guy was going to be coming in to start a job. He would be working the same shift as her and she was to show him the ropes, make sure that he did his job well. It was well known that one mess up would land you without a job. It was harsh, but that's why they were known to be the best cinema in London. She was just shout to start looking for him, since he was due in a few minutes, when a drop-dead gorgeous stud walked in casually. His unique look made him stand out from everyone else, not only because he had a well toned body, his eyes and hair just screamed, 'you can look, but touch and you're in deep trouble.' It was dangerous but HOT!

"H-h-hi how can I help you sir?" she managed to stutter out as he drew nearer. He was coming over to her, her!

"Yeah hi, umm I'm here for my new job, do you know where I'm supposed to go? Oh my GOD! His voice was like silk, so smooth and sensual, just wow. It made her legs water even thinking about it.

"Y-y-you're Harry Potter? Again only just managing to look intelligent. This boy was amazing.

"Yeah, but I go by James Evans. You know middle names and all. Its on all my papers." He said again in that wonderful voice of his. "Am I supposed to go to the manager's office or will I be working around here?"

"Oh, right, yes. You will be working with me, I'll teach you how to take the customers' orders and work the system. Its pretty hard a first, but you get used to it." Lizzie said finally getting to a place where she felt confident talking.

"You'll need to fill this out for the money to go to your bank account." Lizzie broached the subject that Harry was dying to know.

"How much will I be paid? Do you know?" He asked politely.

"Well I think you'll be getting about fifteen pounds an hour, and I think you work seven days a week for four hours a day, so you'll be getting around four hundred and twenty pounds a week, not bad eh? It means that I don't have to work masses of jobs for university, I'm so lucky." Lizzie rambled, she told Harry what Uni. was like and how things were going before the dreaded question came up.

"What university do you go to?"

"Actually I'm only seventeen this summer, on July thirty first. I go to a boarding school in the highlands. It's very private and they teach different subjects. But I can't talk about it. They're very paranoid, thinking that someone will steal their way of life and all, we aren't allowed to talk about it unless its to people who know what we're talking about." Harry finished hoping that he'd said enough to curb her curiosity.

"Oh it wouldn't be called Hogwarts by any chance now would it Harry? Lizzie broached snidely, she got the reaction she wanted when his face paled and he blurted out,

"What? How do you know? Wait are you a Deatheater?" he said suddenly backing away from her.

"What no! I'm not out to kill you, neither am I a reporter, but I believe you know a friend of mine. Hermione Granger?you know she works 3 jobs now. Her parents kicked her out after they found out she was sleeping with her boyfriend. They're mad." She exclaimed.

"What? Do you know how I can contact her? My guardians virtually kicked me out, so I have an apartment out in Ealing. Sorry, but please prove it, I hope you'll forgive me for being jittery if she's explained anything, you'll understand why." Harry spoke softly, calming down a little.

After everything was cleared up, they talked as they served the customers, learning a bit about each other. Slowly Harry learnt how things were run at the cinema. At seven thirty, he had to run off to the next job, at the Club.

The club was a well-presented place that looked to be quite new and popular; and if the line was anything to go by, it was. It had two entrances; one for the bar and chill-out area, and one for the club, both named engagingly. One was called the 'Flying Dutchman', and the other the 'Bloody Mary'. Although they joined together inside, it was easier to monitor and keep air flowing through.

Harry got passed the guard easily; he had been warned that Harry was coming and so let him go when he flashed id. It was noisy inside, but very teen based and well equipped. The layout meant that people could have secluded areas or places out in the open. People could go into booths for god knows what or dance the night away to their content.

Harry made his way to the bar where he had been told to go, he would learn how to shake mixers and create the best drinks around.

Harry had to be grateful to the Dursleys, although they basically kicked him out; they got him the best jobs around, with the best pay. If the cinema gave fifteen quid an hour, he couldn't wait to see how much he got here.

That night, harry learnt how to make various drinks with weird names and was beginning to get the hang of it by midnight. He wasn't at all tired which was also an advantage. Around three a.m. Harry started to tire out, he was getting a headache from all the loud music, and all the other people that he started working with had left long ago when their shifts ended. The club was thinning out with only a few people still dancing, and even they looked like they were going to hit the sack soon. The bar had one or two people still there drinking themselves into oblivion for some reason or another.

Finally at four a.m. Harry was told he could knock off after he filled out the bank form. It was Club policy that you got to keep all the tips you got, it encouraged the bartenders to be polite and become favorites of the customers. It also kept them happy and working there for a long while.

Harry got out of the club with his rucksack on his back, he walked into the train station that was near to the cinema. He caught the 'Central' line out to 'Ealing Broadway' where he had brought a semi-furnished apartment. He got through the door and collapsed onto the couch, immediately falling asleep.

Three and a half hours later, he woke to his phone ringing to tell him to wake up. He got up, showered and got into a new shirt and trousers before rushing out the door to get the twenty to nine train to Oxford. He an out of the station and managed to get to the info desk at the Sainsbury's just as the clock tolled nine o'clock.

He went through the same procedure of learning the ropes; and memorising what goes where and how things worked. His knowledge of plants that Aunt Petunia had made him learn so he wouldn't destroy her prize winning garden; now paid off as he was assigned to the plant area to help care for and sell the plants.

The day went well, he got to the cinema on time. Remembered everything from the day before and managed to pick up new things when needed. He soon came to the attention of the superiors. They knew that he had another job, so they had initially paid him less because they thought he wouldn't be able to cope. However they were pleasantly surprised when he kept up and exceeded their expectations. So pleased with his work, that the managers at the cinema raised his pay and cut down on the extra work they had given him over the weeks.

Harry and Hermione had gotten together and now she moved into the apartment. It came as a total surprise that she worked the same jobs as Harry, only shorter hours and different times. She worked the bar during the day, from six until two o'clock. Then at the cinema in a different section until five, before going to the supermarket until closing time at ten.

At the club things were going well too. He managed to become a favorite of many customers and on top of his twenty pounds and hour, he made around one hundred pounds a night. Harry worked hard, aiming to do the best he could. He thought about dropping the supermarket job, the workload was hard and with mainly four hours sleep a night, it was starting to take it toll after two months. As the holidays slowly came to an end, harry had managed to save enough money to last a long time. Most of it went into a savings account that, if left untouched, could earn masses of interest. A big advantage because of the money in there.

The pair of Hogwarts students had gone out shopping to get various designs of clothing so they could impersonate anyone. Then Hermione had seen the piercing and tattoo shop. One hundred pounds and several bribes later, they came out with several peircings apiece, and a couple of hidden tattoos. The rebel in them was coming out. I guess living on your own and learning how to survive in muggle London without magic, does that to you.

They now looked totally different to their perfect, Griffindor selves. Like a cross of Emo. and Prep. and the best part of it was, they had no parents to tell them that it was grotesque or to ground them. They were on their own.

The day before Harry had to go to Kings Cross, he got his book list. It was longer than usual, but maybe it was just them. It included lots of study journals and revision guides for NEWTs.

The day in Diagon Alley went off without a hitch although they did notice the Weasleys all looking grand, except the twins. They followed them a while to learn what was going on at the Order. It turned out that the order only found out that Harry was missing when a few people went to his house only to discover that he hadn't been there all summer. Apparently they didn't know where he was.

"Jamie? Why don't the Dursleys know where Harry is?" asked Hermione softly, although she now went by the name of Katie Evans, James Evans' sister.

"Umm, maybe because he put a memory charm on them and used the Fidelius charm to conceal himself to the world.?" James said sheepishly.

When their books were all brought, and accessories purchased, Jamie and Katie made their way back to their home, thankful that they were protected from the Order of the roasted chicken. They planned on using glamour to cover up the changes to their persons and seem like nothing had happened over the summer. They were both tones and hot because of all the hours dancing and working. At the bar, they were either working at the bar or encouraging people to dance by partnering up with strangers and seducing their friends onto the dance floor. The new method of getting customers worked spectacularly and they had their pays raised. It was also an advantage that they learned new sexy dance moves.

The next morning, they were dressed in normal Harry and Hermione clothes looking as innocent and studious as possible. They left the apartment and caught the tube to 'Kings Cross' where they waited until ten thirty then pushed through the barrier into their secondary world.


End file.
